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The following post has to do with designing the skeleton of a website either in Photoshop or Illustrator. It is not a comparison between them. A comparison is impossible anyway since each software does different things.
Any website requires certain work before you start doing the markup. Such work could include gathering of content, information design, mockups in paper etc. The moment you decide to move from paper to the screen you select the appropriate software. This is the issue of this post.
I admit Illustrator was a strange land for me for many years now. Arguably most of the Adobe family products work similarly. After some decent efforts I managed to used it quite effectively. I am not saying I know everything about it but I can now create my mockups there.
My experience shows that there are two main reasons why Web designers don’t use Illustrator:
Because Photoshop lets them slice images and transfer them later to the final design
Because they never learned how to use it
I personally don’t do any slicing in Photoshop. It is an old fashioned approach which works well when a designer works with tables in HTML. So I don’t take it.
Not taking some time to learn something which may be valuable was bothering me. This is why I decided to change.
Some thoughts on the design procedure
Photoshop is an outstanding tool. You can do numerous things with it. The detail level is exceptional. For example the Bevel and Emboss tool is fascinating when applied in text. The way layers work can save you a lot of time and energy when creating e.g. a logo.
However Photoshop focuses in detailed work. Designing a web page is not that easy, you soon realize you are confronted somehow. Illustrator provides freedom and easiness. You can do a lot of things without caring about the layers structure. You can have many different versions of the same design and detect them all in seconds.
Most of all I like Illustrator because it goes beyond conventions. You can do almost anything there. Of course you can’t put everything on a real Web page, but it doesn’t matter. Some experimental work done in Illustrator may be good for the website too.
All in all Illustrator is better for me for the specific use. Apparently the better a Web designer uses both programs the more profitable work he produces. For me both of them are great design weapons and to take the best of them depends on us.
There has been a lot of buzz about the new kid in town. I have been using the new browser from Microsoft for a week or so and I have come to the following conclusions:
First of all a new tool is always welcomed. See it as a toy. Playing with it is certainly a new experience you always like.
Then it’s not a toy if you use every day and your customers will soon :(
It supports transparent .png files which is very good.
At last it handles RSS Feeds and it does it smoothly which is also very good.
I don’t like the way it renders text. I have used IE7 in two computers and I can clearly see that text is somewhat blurred. When I turn to Firefox or Opera I see the same text the way it is supposed to look: clear.
It complies to the Web Standards better than ever before but don’t get it wrong: it still loses when compared to Firefox and Opera.
Like always you have to wait until the whole page is loaded. In the meantime you still wait before an empty screen.
It is more secure.
It embraces the tabbed browsing technology.
It makes browsing easier thanks to the search toolbar, the (almost naked from menus) default appearence and the pleasant colors.
Internet Explorer 7 was an indispensable tool. I mean that Microsoft had to launch it. And as far as I can see it is a good tool and most probably will soon become even better. Thanks to Firefox and Opera we have learnt that browsers are alive. They breathe, play, expand and serve their users. They change according to their users preferences. Microsoft got the message.
On the other hand IE7 reminds me a runner who is meant to lose before the race starts. It looks like a cog-wheel in a huge machine which must work anyway. Nobody will pay attention to it unless it breaks down. Then I may be wrong. Future will tell.
...It is a little awkward to write to you. After many years of devout but silent friendship I think it is about time to express why I have walked away from your neighbourhood.
First of all I doubt about your future after engaging the Adobe family. I like the way you interact with the user and I am afraid that your interface will become less simple in the future.
The main reason of our separation was the love for standards. You know, I know, everybody knows that your nature is contrary to the Web Standards. Some people do not realize that you go further than the Web. I however hang on it. This remarkable CSS technology is brilliantly clear and flexible. Put the blame on me, I am very attracted of it.
Lately, I ‘ve been developing a multimedia project. When I heard about it I ran to you, not to the chuby cousin Director. I had once more the opportunity to admire your smoothness and elegance. Until the main movie (.fla) exceeded the 100MB file size. You became slow, very slow. You engulfed my RAM. You refused to publish my files. Why?
Well that was a rhetorical question. I don’t mean to finish this letter in such an arrogant way. I know why you came to this life and how well you do what you do. I don’t forget that you were the spark for me in dark times and I bacame what I am because of you too.
That’s all from me dear friend. See you around the corner soon.
Yours
A friend of the U.S. gave me a present some time ago: the Macromedia
Adobe Dreamweaver 2004 program. Yes, with a serial number. Absolutely legal. Now I want to upgrade it and buy the whole MX suite.
(Voices from the crowd: “You fool”)
I still want to buy it. Yes, I still live in Greece. But today I saw I can’t. It is impossible. Here is why:
I connect with the Adobe website and I login with my
Macromedia
Adobe username/password. The system recognizes that I come from Greece. But there is no way I can download any software by charging my credit card. If a was a Turkish, a Bulgarian etc. there would have been a link for me. Most of the times software vendors do not care about your nationality. They just charge your card and they provide you a download link. Simple as that.
Adobe wants to “push” its clients to the local e-store. Fine. But this blessed country, Greece, is nowhere in the virtual map. Instead you need to contact the reseller of Adobe products in Greece. The reseller claims he can undertake the procedure. What a lousy lie! His so-called e-store doesn’t provide a link for the specific product.
What alternatives do I have?
To order the suite from the U.S. – forget it. I ‘ll have to wait for weeks before I get the damned software in my hands.
To login as a U.S. (or whatever) client and cheat the system – it doesn’t work. You need to provide a valid U.S. credit card number.
To visit the local reseller in order to learn how much it costs (because these guys do not even inform us about the price) and buy it – no way. I don’t want to give you a cent.
Hey guys are you listening to me? I don’t want to crack, patch, fuck your software. I want to buy it! It seems you don’t want me to. So I ‘ll crack, patch, fuck it. Or I ‘ll buy something else.
Photoshop is an outstanding tool. You can do numerous things with it. The detail level is exceptional. For example the Bevel and Emboss tool is fascinating when applied in text. The way layers work can save you a lot of time and energy when creating e.g. a logo.
Most of all I like Illustrator because it goes beyond conventions. You can do almost anything there. Of course you can’t put everything on a real Web page, but it doesn’t matter. Some experimental work done in Illustrator may be good for the website too.